You shall count off seven weeks of years—seven times seven years—so that the period of seven weeks of years gives you a total of forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the horn loud; in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month—the Day of Atonement—you shall have the horn sounded throughout your land and you shall hallow the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim freedom throughout the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a Yovel (jubilee) for you: each of you shall return to his holding and each of you shall return to his family. (25:8-10)

The liberty mentioned here relates to a Jew sold into servitude to another Jew (this can occur when a person is so desperately destitute that he sells himself into servitude). On Yom Kippur of the Jubilee year that servant is automatically set free.

Historically this didn’t always happen. In the Book of Yirmiyah (Jeremiah 34:17) the prophet declares:

לָכֵן כֹּה־אָמַר ה’ אַתֶּם לֹא־שְׁמַעְתֶּם אֵלַי לִקְרֹא דְרוֹר אִישׁ לְאָחִיו וְאִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ הִנְנִי קֹרֵא לָכֶם דְּרוֹר נְאֻם־ה’ אֶל־הַחֶרֶב אֶל־הַדֶּבֶר וְאֶל־הָרָעָב וְנָתַתִּי אֶתְכֶם לזועה [לְזַעֲוָה] לְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ׃

Assuredly, thus said the LORD: You would not obey Me and proclaim a freedom, each to his kinsman and countryman. Behold I proclaim you free—declares the LORD—to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine; and I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

This refusal to allow the Jewish servants to go free can be understood as a selfish concern for the loss that would come about by losing their services. Perhaps there is something more.

Regarding the Jewish servant the Torah warns לֹא־תִרְדֶּה בוֹ בְּפָרֶךְ, do not rule over him with rigor. Rashi comments that this refers to labor that the master doesn’t need. This includes even if the servant doesn’t realize it and even if you are doing it to keep him busy. But if he doesn’t realize it, why is it forbidden for the master to do it?

The Talmud states that one who acquires a Jewish servant is acquiring a master for himself! If there is only one pillow in the house the servant gets it. The servant is to be fed just as the family is. It’s clear that the Torah wants this misfortunate person to be treated with the utmost respect.

This is not just about how the servant feels. It’s also about how the master feels about him. The master must value his servant as a fellow Jew to the extent that he gives up his one and only pillow to him!

Putting someone to work that is useless is inherently demeaning. The servant may not realize he is being demeaned.But his master does.

Perhaps the Jewish people stopped letting their servants free in the Jubilee year because they didn’t value them as fellow Jews should be valued. Therefore their only concern was their material needs and they denied the servants their freedom.

The proper perspective we should have for each other can be seen in Mishna Bava Metzia , Chapter 7, Mishna 1:

In a locale where employers are accustomed to feeding their laborers, the employer must feed them. If they are in a locale where an employer is accustomed to providing their laborers with sweet foods, he must provide such food. Everything is in accordance with the regional custom in these matters. There was an incident involving Rabbi Yocḥanan ben Matya, who said to his son: Go out and hire laborers for us. His son went, hired them, and pledged to provide sustenance for them as a term of their employment, without specifying the details. When he came back to his father and reported what he had done, Rabbi Yocḥanan ben Matya said to him: My son, even if you were to prepare a feast for them like that of King Solomon in his time, you would not have fulfilled your obligation to them, as they are the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Rather, before they begin engaging in their labor, go out and say to them: The stipulation that food will be provided is on the condition that you have the right to claim from me only a meal of bread and legumes, which is the typical meal given to laborers. [Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Matya’s son did not need to state this condition, as the principle is that everything is in accordance with the regional custom.]

Let’s remember we are all the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov and treat each other the way we should.

Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak